The incident occurred Saturday afternoon after a 2010 Dodge Charger being driven by a 24-year- old man approached the checkpoint on Highway 86. Agents referred the vehicle to secondary for further examination based on a canine team alert.

Once there, the Border Patrol detection canine team alerted again to the vehicle. After a thorough inspection, agents discovered 45 vacuum sealed packages of narcotics inside the gas tank of the vehicle.

The content of the 45 packages tested positive for methamphetamine and weighed a total of 54.5 pounds. The estimated street value of the seizure is $174,400. The driver, a legal permanent resident, was turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration along with the vehicle and the narcotics.

In fiscal year 2017, El Centro Sector has seized approximately 874 pounds of methamphetamine.